Earth and Space Abstracts

Seriously, what's cooler than space?  I have been in awe of the photos Commander Kelly has been taking from the ISS and posting on social media lately, so when I saw this post from Don Masse, I just knew I had to copy, uhh I mean borrow, this idea.  My third graders were FASCINATED by Commander Kelly and my lessons ended up running at least an extra 10 minutes answering all their questions about astronauts, space, and gravity (and writing down a bunch of questions to look up answers to later :)  When I was able to get down to the nitty-gritty of my demo I mostly focused on how to use chalk.  This was third graders first foray into the messy, but super pigment-y, wonders of chalk. I showed them how to hold the chalk so they don't drag their palms across their paper, how to blend colors using just the tip of their finger, and how to make different types of marks to show different textures. Kids chose one of Commander Kelly's photos to use as inspiration.  We spoke about really zooming-in to just one part of the picture and off they went.  Kids did an awesome job and I think these are really incredible all put together. :)